Morris Lapidus Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Finding aid created by: PRB
Date: Feb 1995

Revision history:
1 Jun 2005	EAD file created (MRR)

Biographical History

American architect, b. 1902 in Russia. Designer of retail stores, hotels, and apartments.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Spanning 1933-1980, the Morris Lapidus Papers comprises biographical material, correspondence, architectural work, writings and memorabilia of the Russian-born American architect (b. 1902), as well as presentation drawings from several of his major projects. Documenting the development of Lapidus' philosophy of the "architecture of joy", the collection illuminates the career of this designer of retail stores, hotels and apartments.

Biographical Material (Box 1) consists of articles prepared by Lapidus and his publicists for submission to various biographical sources, including the 1966 issue of Current Biography.

Both incoming letters and outgoing carbons, primarily between Lapidus and publishers of his articles, constitute Correspondence (Box 1).

Architectural Work (Box 1 and Oversize Package 1) encompasses some original drawings, photographic reproductions of drawings and models, printed promotional material about the work of Lapidus and his architectural firm, and illustrative material relating to his hotels. In the interest of preservation, the plans, photographs and drawings have been removed from their original binders.

Four original holiday greeting cards designed by Lapidus constitute Artwork (Box 1).

Writings (Boxes 1 and 2) includes published articles as well as manuscript essays, books, and a few amateur plays and skits written for performance at architects' conventions.

Memorabilia (Box 2) includes clippings, exhibition catalogs, press releases and other publicity material.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions: There are no access restrictions on this material.

Use Restrictions: Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Subject Headings

Persons

Lapidus, Morris
Lapidus, Morris Archives

Corporate Bodies

Morris Lapidus Associates
Morris Lapidus, Harle & Liebman

Subjects

Architects, United States
Architectural design
Architectural firms
Architectural practice
Architecture, American
Architecture, Human factors
Architecture, Psychological aspects
Architecture, United States
Architecture, United States, 20th century
Architecture, Vocational guidance
Hotels, Designs and plans
Retail stores, Designs and plans
Russian Americans

Genres and Forms

Amateur plays
Architectural drawings
Articles
Correspondence
Essays
Exhibition catalogs
Lectures
Photographs
Slides
Speeches

Occupations

Architects

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Morris Lapidus Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Acquisition Information

Gift of Morris Lapidus, 1970-1988

Table of Contents

Biographical material

Correspondence

Architectural work

Artwork

Writings

Memorabilia

Inventory